Abstract
Seagrasses form one of the most productive ecosystems in the world’s oceans. Here, we evaluated whether the distribution of seagrass fossils was geographically constrained by past global temperatures. We hypothesized that ancient seagrasses reached higher latitudes during warm epochs compared to their extant relatives. Fossils of both the Cymodoceaceae ‘complex’ and Hydrocharitaceae occur at latitudes similar to the maximum latitudinal limits of extant seagrasses, and significantly higher than their latitudinal midpoints. For Zosteraceae, however, the latitudinal midpoints of extant species are similar to those of fossils, since this is a relatively young lineage that originated in cooler waters. For both the Cymodoceaceae ‘complex’ and Zosteraceae, global temperatures over time had a positive effect on the latitudinal distribution of fossils, such that warmer epochs facilitated poleward expansion. In conclusion, the paleobiogeography of seagrasses was coupled to long-term climate fluctuations, supporting the roles of niche conservatism and climate tracking in their distribution.
Acknowledgements
N.E.B. was supported by the Spanish Minister of Science and Innovation through the Juan de La Cierva-Formación post-doctoral fellowship (JDC2022-048733-I), funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and the EU “Next Generation EU” programme. S.M. and A.A.S. were supported by a grant from the Swedish Research Council (VR grant number 2022-03920). As this is a review-based study, no permissions were required to collect samples.
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Tuya, F., Tejero-Caballo, E., Santos, A.A. et al. Past warming climates promoted expansion of seagrasses to high latitudes. Commun Earth Environ (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-026-03647-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-026-03647-0
